Potter, did what now?
by wolfe luv
Summary: NEW AUTHOR HAS BEEN FOUND! Dudley, Piers, Malcolm, and Gordon are hanging around the Dursley household while their parents are on a week long vacation together. They plan to kick it back and torment the neighborhood kids. But when three strangers show up with books about that scrawny weirdo, Harry Potter, they find out more about him than they ever thought.
1. Prologue

Dudley and his gang of hooligans, otherwise known as Piers, Malcom, and Gordon, were running up and down the hallways of number four Privet Drive throwing an American football that Gordon's older brother had given him. It was the summer time and since mother nature decided to tick everyone off today, it was raining cats and dogs.

"Hey Malcolm, throw it over here!" said Piers, a rat faced looking teenager that wasn't as big as the rest of the four.

The football sailed over Piers outstretched hand and went through a door next to Mr. and Mrs. Dursleys room that had not shut properly.

"Way to go," Malcolm said sarcastically, who was only a little shorter than Dudley.

"You're the one who threw it!" retorted Piers.

"Just get the bloody ball already. It went into Potter's bedroom." Gordon demanded, who was big and stupid like Piers and Malcolm. Dudley was only a little smarter than the rest of them.

"Just get the ball and get out and don't touch anything in there." Dudley said a little nervous. Truth be told, he had never gone into his cousin's room before. He had been too scared that he might accidently set off something and get turned into a warty toad.

Ever since the Dementor attack almost four years ago, Dudley Dursley had completely changed. He no longer beat up ten year old kids with three other teenagers behind him or broke into liquor cabinents. In fact, he didn't do any of those things anymore, but his friends did.

Dudley had tried to convince them to not do that kind of stuff. But he couldn't even pluck up the courage to tell them. Instead, he did a compromise by making excuses when they wanted to vandalize a park or go smoke a cigarette.

"Alright alright," Piers muttered. "Speaking of which, where is that scrawny cousin of yours? We havn't beaten him up in a while."

"Yeah," said Gordon eagerly. "I've been dying to break those stupid glasses of his."

"He went to spend the summer at a friend's house." Dudley replied. It was a half truth anyway. But that had been _last _year. He hadn't seen his cousin since he had left with Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones.

"Woah," came the sound of Piers in Harry's room. "What kind of bath robe is this? Was this a halloween costume or something?"

The three other boys trooped into the said room where they found Piers holding up a black set of robes that had an H embroidered on it with a lion, snake, badger and eagle surrounding it.

"Wow, Big D! Potter is an even bigger weirdo than I thought!" exclaimed Malcolm who was examining a black cauldron while Piers poke through some books labeled _The Standard book of Spells Grade 6 and Quidditch Teams of Ireland and Britian._

"Yeah, did he think he was a wizard or something?" snorted Gordon.

Before Malcolm could make a snarky comment, the door bell rang.

"Who would be coming here in the middle of this weather?" Piers asked.

"Your parents? Maybe they forget their key?" Malcolm said looking at Dudley.

"No," Dudley muttered heading for the door. "They had them when they left."

Dudley stalked off to the door and wrenched it open to reveal a girl with long red hair that he assumed to be sixteen or seventeen. On eitheir side of her were two one on the left had a round face and appeared to be eighteen. The other had dreadlocks and looked to be twenty-one.

"Are you Dudley Dursley?" asked the red headed girl disdainfully.

"Yes," Dudley asked, his eyes transfixed on the girl. She had to be the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, with bright brown eyes set into a pale face that was framed by long red hair.

"Oi, she's seeing someone!" the boy with the dreadlocks exclaimed.

Dudley tried to hide his embarrasment by asking, "who are you?"

"I'm Ginny Weasley," said the girl. "And this," -she gestured to the boy with the dreadlocks- "is Lee Jordan and Neville Longbottom. Were here to talk to you about your cousin, Harry Potter." Ginny said.

His heart seemed to thrum louder. Was he finallyl going to find out what happend to him? All that Dedalus Diggle had said that his scrawny cousin who he used to beat up had to stop a Dark wizard by the name of Lord the weight of the entire wizarding and muggle world on his shoulders, though Dudley had no idea what a muggle was.

"Hey Big D, what's taking you so long?" called out Gordon. "Come on already!"

"Um, why don't you come in?" Dudley asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously.

The three wizards-or so Dudley assumed- walked into the living room where Gordon, Malcolm and Piers were lounging on the couches, still throwing the football.

"'Bout time you got here Dud-" Gordon stopped abruptly when he saw Ginny. "And who," he said giving the smile he usually gives when he's trying to pick up girls. "Might you be?"

Ginny gave him an irritated look. "Seeing someone," she retorted.

"Ooh, feisty." Gordon chuckled. "Oh well, they always come around eventually. But may I ask who is it that you're dating?"

"Harry Potter," Ginny snapped.

You could here a pin drop then-

"You got to be joking!" Malcolm laughed.

"Yeah, no one in their right _mind_ would date, Potter!" Gordon howled.

Piers actually laughed so hard that he fell off the back of the couch where he was seated.

"Who _would _date that scrawny, spineless cousin of yours anyway, Dudley?" Gordon chortled.

"Alot of girls actually," Lee smirked.

"What makes you say that?" Malcolm sneered.

"What he's saying is that you don't even have a shadow of a thought of what Harry really does when he's at school or why people look up to him." Neville snapped, looking at the bemused expression on their faces.

"What're you going on about?" Piers demanded.

"What he's saying is that your cousin is famous." Ginny said looking at Dudley. Harry had said that Dudley had changed, but that didn't mean that she was fine with him. She was still pretty ticked off that Harry had made harry sleep in a cupboard.

"Exactly, and were here to tell you why. Well, more like read." Lee grinned.

"What d'you mean? What's so special about Harry?" Gordon persisted.

"Harry's a wizard. And so are we, well Ginny's a witch, but same principle." Neville shrugged.

"He's a _what?_" Piers asked incredously.

"Way to be blunt, Neville." Lee sniggered.

"He's exactly what Neville said. And to help you understand why, we came here with seven books about Harry's life since he started Hogwarts." Ginny said.

"That's not true." Gordon sneered. "There's no way that Potter is a wizard, or if magic even exists."

"Harry is one of them." Dudley said suprising them all. He'd been quiet siince they'd came in.

"But where's the proof that magic exists." Malcolm said. "Those could have been fake spellbooks we found in his room."

Ginny sighed and brought out her wand and muttered something that Dudley thought sounded like _expecto patronum._ As soon as she said it, a huge, silvery stallion erupted from the end of Ginny's wand, and bounded around the room and then dissapeared.

"Believe me now?" Ginny asked.

The three boys nodded, looking gobsmacked. **(A/N:Don't you just love that word?)**

"Bit of an overkill, Gin," Neville snorted.

"Yeah, well, I though a theatrical performance was required, Neville." Ginny said dryly.

"You should enroll in the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts." Lee chuckled. **(A/N: This does actually exist in the world of Harry Potter. It's mentioned in **_**The Tales of Beetle the Bard. **_**Right in the commentary of **_**The Fountain of Fair Fortune.**_**)**

Ginny smiled wryly. "I was thinking of try out for the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team instead, Lee."

"While professional Quidditch games are good, nothing beats the Hogwarts commentary on the game, especially while I was there." Lee said jokingly.

"Hey, yeah, so are we going to start anytime soon or are we just gonna listen to you three go on about Quidditch and unrelated nonsense?" Malcolm asked impatiently.

"I dunno, I kind of wanna go on about Quidditch," Lee said grinning.

"And I wanna talk about unrelated nonsense." Neville said also grinning.

Ginny snorted and took out a book and muttered a spell.

The book floated up and opened to the first page and in a gruff voice read:** Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Chapter One, The Boy Who Lived.**


	2. The Boy Who Lived

**I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters. All rights go to J.K. Rowling.**

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Whoa, that book can talk!" Piers exclaimed.

Lee rolled his eyes. "Of course it can, I didn't really fancy reading a book to a bunch of teenagers."

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors**

"I have to admit, that is a pretty accurate description, Dud," Malcolm snorted.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. **

"Small?" Ginny asked incredously which made Dudley turn red and the rest to snigger.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"How can you not want anyone know you're related to the Potter's? Harry's great!" Lee cheered.

"Yeah, you should hear some of the comebacks he makes when he's mad," Neville said.

"Trust me, I know," Dudley muttered.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for sedveral years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. **

"Is that even a word?" Piers asked.

"No, besides who wants to be normal? It sucks all the fun out of life," Lee proclaimed.

"Couldn't agree with you more. That's why I love Hogwarts, nothing is ever normal," Ginny said.

"Especially when Harry's there," Neville muttered.

"Wait, what's Hogwarts?" Malcolm asked.

"Isn't that the school where Harry goes to at the end of every summer?" Dudley asked.

"Congratulations, Dudley, you finally figured out what school your cousin goes to after seven years," Malcolm said sarcastically. That comment caused Dudley to backhand him so he fell off the back of the chair again.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, **

"Scrawny is the better word," Gordon muttered which made Piers and Malcolm to crack up. Luckily for them Ginny didn't hear them.

**too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Please, I rather be 'mixing with a child like that' than a child like Dudley," Neville said.

"That's because Dudley and his gang think what's fun is beating up kids that can't defend themselves," Ginny said, glaring at said boy.

"Besides, Harry's idea of fun, is so much more entertaining," Lee said grinning.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,**

"Wow, that's lame," Gordon commented.

"Yeah, I like our bow ties more at Smeltings," Piers put in.

"Please, at least our ties we wear at Hogwarts are better. There diagonally striped with your House colors," said Lee.

"What are the houses?" Dudley asked curiously. The few times he had passed his cousins room when the door had been left open, he had seen a flag that was red and gold.

"Well there's Gryffindor, 'where dwell the brave at heart-'" said Ginny.

"Go go Gryffindor!" Lee cheered.

"Ravenclaw, where the motto is 'wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,'" Ginny continued.

"Also known as the house where a lot of the smarter witch and wizards are," Neville simplified.

"Slytherin, 'where the cunning folk use any means to achieve their end.'"

"More like meet their end," Lee muttered.

"Hufflepuff, where they are, 'just, loyal, and unafraid of toil,'" Ginny stated.

"Though, a lot of people say that Hufflepuffs are for people who don't fit well into the other houses," Lee said.

"There's nothing wrong with, Hufflepuff," Neville snapped. He was kind of dating Hannah Abbott.

"So, which one is Harry in?" Dudley asked curiously.

"Hufflepuff obviously," Gordan said. "He's not exactly smart, brave, or cunning."

"Actually," Ginny said smirking. "Harry's is brave. He's a Gryffindor through and through."

"What about the rest of you?" Malcolm asked.

"Gryffindor, of course. No one else is this cool," Lee said tipping back in his chair.

No one saw Ginny subtly from her pocket and point it at the leg of Lee's chair, causing him to tip backward and bang his head against the floor.

"Now, if you idiots are done talking, I would like for the book to continue," Ginny said.

**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Nice," Lee snickered which made Dudley turn red.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"And thus our story begins," Lee said dramatically.

"Did you just say 'thus'?" Malcolm asked.

"Yes, I find that speaking in fancy schmancy terms such as 'kip', 'thus', and 'alas' make for an intriguing conversation," Lee said in his best pompous voice.

"Did you just say something intelligent?" Ginny asked shocked.

"Yes, and don't get used to it," Lee replied.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley**

"Since when has Dudley been little?" Malcolm asked incredously.

**as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map.**

"What? Cats don't read maps though," Dudley said confused.

"They do if their Transfiguration teachers that have an ambition to deduct points from people who try to have fun," Lee muttered.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of?**

"Yes, what could you have been thinking?" Lee snickered.

"I'm amazed," Ginny said looking at the book in shock.

"Why? Because he just saw a cat reading a map?" Piers asked confused.

"No, the fact that he can think," Ginny said, still looking at the book while the others howled with laughter.

**It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"He lives such an exciting life," Ginny muttered.

"He will as soon as Harry gets there," Neville said giving Ginny a look that made her blush.

_Huh, I wonder how serious her relationship is with her and Harry,_ Dudley thought to himself. Not that he would actually steal his cousin's girlfriend after he had saved his life-soul-whatever.

As if on the same wavelength as him, Gordon piped up, "Hey, Ginger, how 'bout me and you go on a date?" he said slyly.

"First of all, my name is Ginny. And second, I don't date guys whose IQ is less than the age of the kid he beats up," She said coolly.

Dudley thought Lee and Neville were going choke on the lack of oxygen their lungs were receiving. Even Malcolm and Piers were able to pass off their laughs of amusement as coughs when Gordon gave them a dirty look.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. **

"Yes, a fashion that has been around since King Arthur ruled," Neville said.

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him!**

"I wonder what Dursley would say if he saw Professor Dumbledore," Ginny mused, thinking about how her ex-headmaster's eccentric form of clothes.

"Nothing at all," Dudley muttered. He remembered how angry his dad had been when that old wizard had come knocking in the middle of the night.

**But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it.**

"Yeah, collecting rumors aabout how a one year old baby managed to survie the Killing Curse and defeat the darkest wizard that ever lived," Neville said.

"A one year old did what now?" Dudley asked flabbergasted.

But Lee just waved off the question.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"Wow, so much depth in the human male mind," Ginny muttered sarcastically. "Well, for a muggle that's the size of a walrus," she amended.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.**

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. **

**He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

"Such a productive day," Dudley said, than blushed at Ginny's raised eyebrow.

"Just because he's my dad doesn't mean that I don't find drills all that interesting.

"Touche," Ginny agreed thinking about her own dad's boring office.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road**

"Wait, he can walk? I thought he slid around on his belly like an actual walrus," Lee exclaimed.

**to buy himself a bun from the bakers opposite.**

"No, more like a pig I think," Gordon snorted.

"Your one to talk," Ginny retorted.

"Oh, so I'm not allowed to make smart comments but you can?"

"Exactly, glad we established that," Ginny smirked.

"Key word: smart," Lee put in.

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard –"**

**" — yes, their son, Harry – "**

"Wait, what about, Harry?" Piers asked.

But again no one answered.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

"He finally came to the realization did he?" Ginny asked. "Bit slow on the uptake."

"I'm just surprised that he figured it out." Lee said making the others burst out laughing.

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry.**

**Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"Nope, Harold Potter just doesn't have a good ring to it." Lee said shaking his head in mock disappointment.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if he'd had a sister like that…**

"Then he would have the best sister in the world," Neville defended.

"But no, he got stuck with Aunt Marge instead," Dudley said. He only put up with her because he got paid for it well.

**but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!**

"If only. It would've saved Harry a hell of a lot of problems," Lee muttered

The muggles just looked at him blankly.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"Could you imagine the look on Fred and George's face if they heard that?" Neville whispered to Ginny and Lee who snickered.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning.**

**It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

"Yep, definitely, McGonagall," Lee nodded.

"The cat's name is McGonagall?" Dudley asked slowly.

"It's not so weird. I have a pygmy puff named Arnold," Ginny said, leaving the muggles to ponder what a pygmy puff is.

**Was this normal cat behavior?**

**Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems **

"Mrs. Next Door?" Piers asked uncertainly.

**with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word! ("Won't!").**

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

_**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The news reader allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**_

_**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**_

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

"Wait, why are people talking about, Potter? It's not like he's done anything important," Gordon said.

"So you think," Neville said mysteriously.

"There's a lot more to Harry than you know," Lee agreed.

"What d'you mean?" Dudley questioned.

"I don't want to reveal too much, but let's just say since your cousin came to Hogwarts, there hasn't been a normal year since," Neville answered.

"Always knew there was something weird about, Potter," Gordon muttered. Unfortunately, Ginny heard him.

"What Neville means is that the reason why there's always weird things going on is that Harry had to stop the darkest wizard ever from regaining strength," Ginny snapped.

"Like Potter could do that. He's the most gutless person I've ever seen," Piers said to Ginny.

"Oh, you would be surprised just how capable Harry is," Lee said ominously.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. **

**"Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd."**

"Didn't realize we were a 'crowd,'" Ginny said venomously.

Lee and Neville scooted away nervously. You did not want to end up on the wrong side of her Bat Bogie hex.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare."**

"And that is why he would never be in Gryffindor," Neville said.

"Because 'daring nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart,'" Lee finished and they both cracked up.

"Where do they get these mottos?" Malcolm whispered to Dudley who shrugged.

"A talking hat," Ginny answered, who had heard their conversation.

The response from the muggles was very similar to the expression Goyle wears when asked a question.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"Well, bit hypocritical of her since her name is Petunia," Neville said.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.**

"I swear, there is something up with that cat." Malcolm said.

"Congratulations, that's the smartest observation you made all day," Ginny said bitingly.

"May I ask, what's your problem?" Gordon asked glaring at Ginny.

"My problem," she said returning the glare. "Is that four teenagers use their leisure time to pick on kids that have done nothing to them."

"They gave us lip," Piers retorted.

"Well, if they say you're pathetic for beating up kids. Then you're in denial," Ginny said waspishly.

**It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

"Then you better get over it," Malcolm said.

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect them…**

**How very wrong he was.**

"Admitting defeat is the first step to acceptance," Lee said wisely.

"Thank you for the cookie fortune nonsense of the day," Gordon said rolling his eyes.

"More like Trelawney tea leaves," Ginny muttered which caused Neville to snort.

"I don't get it," Dudley said bluntly.

"You will soon," Neville grinned.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness.**

**It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"How does it to that." Piers asked incredously looking at the book.

"Well, it's a little thing called patience. You should try it some time." Ginny said.

"Do you have to make a sarcastic remark?" Malcolm asked annoyed.

"That wasn't sarcasm. And yes I do," Ginny answered.

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. **

"I'm pretty sure it's magic," Dudley stated.

**The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"I've seen the look," Lee muttered.

"You bring it on yourself, mate," Neville chuckled.

"I didn't even do anything that bad!" Lee protested.

"What did you do?" Dudley asked intrigued.

Lee waved his hand as if to brush the question away. "All I did was give myself a marvelous pink beard and mustache."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Malcolm said confused.

"We were supposed to make our quills disappear," Lee said casually.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Like I said earlier, I would have loved to see Dursley's expression." Ginny said grinning.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"That's because Dumbledore doesn't give a rat's fart about what other people think of him. He's my idol. Well, besides the Marauders," Lee amended.

"I forgot, you don't know who the Marauders' identities are, do you?" Ginny asked amazed.

"Do you know them?" Lee asked eagerly.

"Yes, and so do you," Ginny said and laughed at Lee's expression.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. **

"Funny, I never would've thought he was a smoker," Dudley said.

**He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"Whoa, since when do cigarette lighters do that?" Gordon asked wide eyed.

Ginny did a face palm at his stupidity.

**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"Wait, that cat's a teacher?" Piers asked gob smacked.

"She prefers Professor." Ginny said impatiently.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. **

**She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"Great answer, Professor," Lee sniggered.

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"What! That was amazing!" Lee protested.

"Lee, you were three," Neville said slowly.

"I know that. I meant the second time Harry defeated You-Know-Who."

"Though they weren't as good as the Weasley Wizard Wheezes firecrackers," Neville put in.

"Nothing, beats the twins firecrackers," Ginny smiled.

**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"If only," Neville muttered.

"Who's 'You-Know-Who?'" Piers asked. "The bloke's name was mentioned earlier by that old guy in the green cloak."

"The darkest wizard that ever lived," Lee supplied.

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"Ugh, I hate those things. Disgusting," Gordon said, making a face.

**"A what?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.**

"What! It's always time for a lemon drop!" Lee joked and the other laughed.

**As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone —"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

"Why are people scared to say the name?" Dudley asked. He had noticed Diggle and Jones hadn't said the name while they were in hiding.

"Imagine that the country is being controlled by a prejudice, megalomaniac where you're only safe if you hate muggles and you only have magical blood. And the megalomaniac in question feels no remorse for killing or torturing," Ginny explained.

"All right, I can see your point," Piers accepted.

"And to top it off with a cherry, if you say his name, his followers appear and torture you in if you're on their list. Or just kill you right on the spot," Neville said darkly.

Malcolm let out a low whistle. "That is one seriously jacked up bloke."

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

Lee snorted. "Like Dumbledore would ever use the Dark Arts.

**"Only because you're too — well —noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"Ok, I could have lived without the mental image," Ginny said looking a bit sick.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

"That's what I've been asking!" Malcolm exclaimed.

Ginny gave him an odd look. "You haven't been asking."

"Well I've been thinking it," he muttered.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"I bet he did that on purpose," Neville chuckled.

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — dead."**

"Wait, Harry's parents were murdered?" Piers asked shocked.

Dudley's face was white. Harry had said that his parents had been killed by You-Know-Who, but he hadn't been sure if it was true or not because he had also been told that they died in a car crash and immediately felt guilty. Him, Piers, Malcolm, and Gordon had teased Harry for having no parents.

By a quick look around the room, he could tell his friends felt guilty, though not the latter.

Ginny nodded sadly. "Though only a few people know the true reason why Voldemort went after the Potters."

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

"Wow, that's gotta be tough," Dudley winced.

Ginny chuckled darkly. "You should have heard McGonagall when she thought that Harry was dead."

"When Harry was what?" Dudley asked wide eyed, but Ginny waved it aside.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.**

"Dang, people really wanted to kill, Harry," Lee joked to ease the tension. I think it's safe to say that he did about as good as Crabbe did on his O.W.L.'s.

**But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone."**

"You-Know-Who has killed numerous witches and wizards, but he couldn't kill a year old baby?" Dudley asked strucked.

"Yeah, and that's why Harry's famous. Seventeen years ago, a dark wizard came to kill him. And why should have a baby stood a chance when countless stronger, older witches and wizards had been killed by him," Ginny said leaning in.

**This was why she had come. To tell these idiots that had tormented Harry in his childhood why fully grown people respected him.**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's — it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy?**

"Did Harry ever find out why he couldn't kill him?" Dudley asked.

"Yes, he said two things about it. It would explain in the books that it was a power that Lord Voldemort could never comprehend and feared. And that it was cheesy," Ginny smirked.

**It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"Translation: I know but I don't want to tell you because I want to keep my aura of mystery," Lee joked.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.**

"What kind of watch is that?" Malcolm asked.

"It's a more prehistoric version of the traditional coming of age watch that is given to wizards," Ginny said.

"That version was made 'round the time the wheel was invented." Lee said seriously, though the corner of his mouth twitched.

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"Not anymore," Ginny murmured. Her mum considered Harry a son and Ginny thought of him as a family friend, since it would be pretty weird to snog your brother in the middle of the common room.

**"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. **

**"Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"At least someone tried to talk some sense into him," Ginny sighed.

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"Yes, because that went so well," Dudley muttered. He still had the scar from the pig tail.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future**

"Harry would love that," Lee snickered.

"Lee, if you try to start that, he would be the first to hex you," Ginny said, fighting back a smile.

- there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!"

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"I'm sorry. I just can't picture Harry as arrogant," Neville admitted. "But I have to say his noble side can get annoying sometimes."

"You have no idea," Ginny muttered.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it —wise — to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"Nice to know that McGonagall is the trusting type," Malcolm remarked, who had his legs over the back of an armchair.

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it.**

**He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild — long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

The Gryffindors laughed at the muggles reaction, sans Dudley who had met Hagrid-if by met you mean receiving a pig's tail.

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep.**

**Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Gordon was about to make a smart comment-er,- comment but didn't want to risk being on the receiving end of her wand.

**"Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy.**

"Really? How so?" Piers asked sarcastically.

**I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

"Huh, I guess that is pretty handy to have," Piers amended.

**Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

"Please, I doubt a century worth of beauty sleep would help Dursley," Lee snorted.

"No amount of sleep would keep Dursley from being a git," Ginny amended to the great amusement to the others.

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"Oh no! Not the twinkle!" Lee yelled in mock horror.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

"I must do that the next time I see her," Lee said thoughtful.

Neville snorted. "Do that, and she would turn you into a toad.

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured.**

"Like Harry has good luck," Neville muttered. "What? You know it's true." he said when Ginny threw him a look.

**He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream**

"What a lovely way to wake up," Piers muttered from his spot on the back of the couch.

**as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley…**

**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"The celebrations are better at the Three Broomsticks and the Leaky Cauldron," Neville said.

"That had to be the most boring chapter ever." Gordon complained.

"Well they're not for your entertainment," Ginny said crossly.

**"Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass…"**


	3. The Vanishing Glass

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series.**

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.**

"Thrilling life," Lee said, bored.

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets,**

"Great description of, Dud," Laughed Piers.

"Wait till it's your turn than you won't be saying that," Dudley snapped.

"You're right. He would say 'Great description of, Piers' though why he would refer to himself in the third person, I don't know." said Neville.

**but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Of course there isn't," Ginny said bitterly.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. **

**"Up! Get up! Now!" **

"Not one of the worst ways Harry has been woken up," said Neville.

"How so?" asked Gordon.

"Well waking up from nightmares that involve seeing the deceased come back as ghosts and watching someone die right in front of him and dueling Voldemort might just be a little worst," Neville pointed out.

Dudley blanched. He had made fun of his cousin for watching a person get killed and have his dead parents come back? No one wonder he'd gotten so serious.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. **

"Impatient much," Ginny raised an eyebrow.

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before. **

"That's because you did have it before. And it wasn't a dream," Gordon said smartly, or as smartly as Gordon can.

Ginny shook her head. "You know it's bad when you're talking to inanimate objects."

**His aunt was back outside the door. **

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded. **

**"Nearly," said Harry. **

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

The Gryffindors erupted into laughter along with Dudley's friends.

"I was hoping that wouldn't be in the book," he muttered.

**Harry groaned. **

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"Didn't realize she understood Troll," Lee snickered.

"Well she does live with Vernon and Dudley. Have to be able to understand them somehow," Ginny pointed out.

Dudley scowled while everyone else laughed.

**"Nothing, nothing…" **

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? **

"Yes, how could you forget?" Lee said faking a tone of being affronted.

**Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders,**

"Good thing too. How else would have survived Hogwarts?" Lee asked.

"I have no idea," Piers answered.

Ginny gave him an odd look. "That was a rhetorical question."

**because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept. **

Ginny gave Dudley a look of deepest loathing and said, "You're so lucky that it's against wizarding law to use magic on muggles."

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise**

"Nothing has ever been truer," Dudley muttered. He had hated how overweight he had been. Not that he had been picked on; people had been too scared to try.

**unless of course it involved punching somebody. **

And that was the reason why.

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. **

"I've always wondered why we never could catch Potter," Malcolm asked thoughtfully.

"Well it might help to the fact that he wasn't a fat lazy git," Neville spat.

Gordon rolled his eyes. He still didn't believe that Potter did anything important. Ok, so he made some big dark wizard disappear when he was a year old. He got lucky. And no one gets lucky twice.

**Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast**.

"Well, if I had a choice of either being out of breath of going against four overweight idiots, I would take the former too," Lee said sarcastically.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. **

"And that is one of the reasons why we bullied him," Gordon sneered. "He's so scrawny, and I don't believe all this rubbish you're saying that he supposedly did." He finished his rant breathing heavily in the deathly silence.

Dudley was afraid that Ginny was going to break the law and use magic on him. On the one hand he didn't want his friend to get hurt. On the other he wanted to see him get hurt. It was complicated.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes.**

"He has the most amazing eyes," Ginny sighed.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. **

"Git," Lee 'coughed.'

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. **

"Famous last words," Ginny muttered.

"Wouldn't it be thoughts?" Dudley asked and Ginny threw him a glare.

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. **

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions." **

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys. **

"Well that explains it!" Neville said exasperated.

Everyone gave him an odd look.

"Why he's so curious," Neville elaborated. "If the Dursley's allowed him to ask questions when he was younger, than maybe he wouldn't have been so curious in his first year. So, then, wouldn't have been almost killed."

Ginny nodded. "True, but if he hadn't been so curious, then the stone would've been stolen by Voldemort's servant. That would mean that Voldemort would have returned sooner."

"Besides," Lee grinned. "He wouldn't be Harry Potter if he didn't have curiosity."

"But curiosity killed the cat," Malcolm pointed out.

"But the curious cat saved the entire wizarding world."

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. **

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting. About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place. **

"Which is a good thing for Ginny," Lee sniggered.

Ginny quirked an eyebrow. "Meaning..."

"You're always twisting his hair in your hands when you're either A.) He's laying down on the floor and your sitting next to him or B.) You two snog each other in front of the entire common room," Neville said.

Gordon stared at Ginny like she suddenly grew wings. _So she won't go on a date with me. Me, who is tall, strong, and devilishly handsome. But she'll kiss that scrawny, gutless runt. I'll show her what she's missing. Potter can't compare to my title of strongest beench presser in the school, second to Dudley._

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

"Lovely description," Ginny smirked and the others failed to contain their laughter.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. **

Ginny gave a small smile of amusement at Dudley's expense.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. **

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year." **

Ginny gave Dudley a look of complete shock. "Thirty-six? You're complaining that you got thirty-six? I have six older brothers and all our presents combined is a little over forty."

"You have six older brothers?" Piers asked, gob-smacked.

"Yeah," Ginny said with a wryly. "Which makes guys think twice to use me if they're going to make a girl jealous."

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." **

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. **

"Sorry, but were you eleven or six?" Neville asked, eyebrows raised.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"**

"So you got thirty-nine presents, and Harry got nothing. Okay, glad we settled that," Lee said in a confirming tone.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"Could you imagine if Dudley was in Ravenclaw?" Neville whispered to Lee.

"If Dudley was in Ravenclaw, god help the idiots in Slytherin," Lee muttered back.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia. **

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then." **

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. **

**"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. **

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch **

"Ha, ours are still better," Lee rubbed in.

"I thought we already established this?" Dudley asked.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "We did. But that doesn't erase the fact that Lee is twenty-one years old and acts like he's eight."

"Why act mature?" Lee said nonchantly. "It sucks all the fun out of life. Then again, so does being a prefect."

"I have to agree with you there," Ginny sighed in defeat.

**when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction. **

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. **

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. **

"If he did plan that I will worship him," Lee said getting on his knees with his hands held out in front of him like he was bowing to an emperor.

The muggles and the other two Gryffindors chuckled.

"I have said it once and I will say it again; if you do that, Harry will be the first to hex you."

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. **

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. **

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy." **

"I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual," Dudley sniggered.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?" **

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia. **

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer). **

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. **

"Now that's an idea..." Lee said thoughtfully. Dudley scooted his chair away.

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" he snarled. **

"No, but I'm pretty sure my dad did a pretty good job with your living room," Ginny said, glancing at the innocent looking fireplace.

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry,**

"Nope, only your aunt," Lee laughed

**but they weren't listening. **

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…" **

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…" **

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted. **

Ginny gave another disgusted glare at Dudley.

"I swear it is lucky that Harry didn't turn out like a spoiled brat like you or a masochistic person who delves into the sick, twisted ways of the Dark Arts," Ginny finished breathing heavily through her nose.

Dudley stared. When he thought about it, he supposed-no, he knew he was lucky that Harry wasn't like all of what Ginny said.

Hell, he was lucky that Harry hadn't even hexed him when he had made fun of Harry yelling in his sleep. Instead Harry had saved him from rocking back and forth in a white padded room in a vegetated state.

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him. **

**"I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. **

Ginny muttered a string of profanities under her breath.

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. **

"I just love Harry's descriptions." Lee laughed. "Face like a rat and pig in a wig? Hilarious!"

"Just wait till we get to Snape's," laughed Ginny. Harry had told her that Snape had been on their side the whole time and sacrificed himself again and again for Dumbledore at the risk of being killed by the most ruthless, sociopathic person that ever lived.

Didn't stop him from being a prat.

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. **

And the list of profanities continued.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside. **

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, **

**"I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." **

"Too bad he's going to be at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he gets in more danger than the year before. But thanks for the offer," said Neville sarcastically.

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did. **

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. **

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." **

"As much as I hate Potter, I have to admit, he has a wicked scar," Gordon grinned, obviously trying to get on Ginny's good side.

Ginny gave him a cold look. "Yes, having an unfeeling, sadist trying to kill you and leaving a scar as a reminder that he killed your parents is wicked."

Gordon scowled while Lee and Neville tried-key word being tried- hiding their smiles.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly. **

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). **

"And Ron complains about maroon sweaters from mum," Ginny scoffed.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. **

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

"Wow, an angry letter I'm so terrified," Lee snorted.

"What if it was a Howler?" Ginny asked.

"If it was a Howler I would've chucked it out the window and have Grawp sit on it."

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. **

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. **

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. **

"Is it just me, or does it seem like Dursley likes to complain about Harry?" Neville asked.

"No, it's not just you. But I think he likes to complain about Harry a little too much," Ginny glowered.

**This morning, it was motorcycles. **

**"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. **

**"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." **

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: **

**"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" **

"They do if they belong to innocent convicted murderers that go by the name of Sirius Black!" Lee piped up.

**Dudley and Piers sniggered. **

**"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." **

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas. **

"What? Harry never has dangerous ideas!" Lee yelled in mock outrage.

"Except when he's being a stupid, noble git," Ginny joined in.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. **

"Boring," Piers yawned.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond. **

"Wait, so does Dudley look like a pig in a wig or a gorilla?" Lee asked intrigued.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. **

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. **

"Definitely a pig," Ginny sniggered.

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last. **

"And there goes his optimism," Lee mocked sigh.

"What optimism? He's the most pessimistic person I know!" Neville exclaimed

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. **

"Not the biggest reptile I've ever seen," Ginny murmured

Malcolm raised his eyebrows.

"That thing was fifteen feet long!" Piers cried in indignation.

"So, the monsturous beasts in our world would make that thing look like a twig," Ginny said enjoying the thunder-struck looks of the muggles.

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. **

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. **

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. **

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

"Had you ever considered that the snake was bored with having people press their faces against the glass and tapping on it?" Ginny asked annoyed.

Dudley blushed. The truth was that he had wanted the snake to do something impressive that he would never forget. Well, it looked like he got it, he thought wryly.

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. **

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. **

**It winked. **

"Always knew there was something funny with Potter. He can't make friends with people, so he settles with the reptiles," Gordon said scornfully. He was bitter that Ginger kept shooting him down with his offers.

"What am I? A Flobberworm?" Lee asked in mock indignation.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. **

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: **

**"I get that all the time."**

"Since when can Potter understand Snakeian," Malcolm demanded.

"The correct term is Parseltongue, and to answer your other idiotic question you'll just have to find out." Ginny replied dryly.

**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." **

**The snake nodded vigorously. **

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. **

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. **

_**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**_

**"Was it nice there?" **

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?" **

"It's official. Harry has finally lost his marbles," Lee announced. Then he dodged the Full Body Bind shot at him by Ginny.

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" **

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. **

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. **

Dudley received one of Ginny's infamous glares that made him flinch when she fingered her wand.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. **

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. **

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. **

"How did Potter mange to do that?" Piers asked impatiently.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "It's called accidental magic. It happens when a young witch or wizard without any training unleashes magic when they're feeling angry or scared."

"Is it the same with every wizard?" Dudley asked.

"A rare when one can do it when they're not feeling one of those emotions. The person would have to be unnaturally talented. Of course the other exception to that rule is that the wizard would be curious about said talent and would try to control it and bend it to their will."

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. **

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo." **

"What'd you know? The snake has better manners than you two do," Neville sniggered.

"Did the snake ever make it to Brazil?" Dudley asked for a topic change. He did not like reading about how much of a prat he'd been.

Ginny looked thoughtful. "I have no idea," she murmured.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" **

"Well, you see, Harry did this little thing I like to call magic," Lee said slowly to the book that could not answer him.

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.**

"Liar!" Lee coughed.

"Like Potter hasn't lied before," Piers accused.

"I won't deny the truth," Lee said wryly. "But when Harry does it, it's for doing the right thing; not trying to get someone in trouble for something they didn't do. Though trying to get someone in trouble for something they didn't do falls under the category of 'doing the right thing' in my book." He grinned.

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?" **

"Idiot!" Ginny hissed while she slapped Piers upside the head.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. **

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. **

"It looks like the only good thing the Dursley's did was help hone Harry's sneaking and lying skills," Lee said mischievously.

Dudley made a mental note to never ask why Lee had that look in his eye. He had a feeling he would find out soon.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. **

**Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. **

"And the dementors didn't help any," Ginny said bitterly.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. **

**He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. **

**There were no photographs of them in the house. **

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; **

"Yet anyway," Lee said mysteriously.

**the Dursleys were his only family. **

"For now," Lee said again. Ginny threw him a frustrated look.

**Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

"Yes indeed," Lee said stroking an imaginary beard.

The irritated looks from Ginny was starting to become a regular occurrence.

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. **

"The only wizard I know that would wear a purple hat would have to be Dedalus Diggle." Lee said.

"And Dumbledore," Neville grinned. "What?" he asked when Ginny raised an eyebrow. "It could happen."

**After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat**

"More like a cloak," one of the Gryffindors muttered.

**had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"That sounds like a threat if I ever heard one," Ginny accused looking at Dudley's friends.

"Hey, there's no need to be like that, Ginger. We just needed to make sure that nobody sympathized for the freak when we beat him up," Gordon said grinning.

"Yes, because that makes it so much better," Ginny snapped and decked Gordon in the face.

**Sorry I havn't updated in a while. I'm on summer break and while I'm at my house, I have to clean. I would've worked on it Sunday, but I was watching the MTV 2012 Movie Awards. Can you believe that Breaking Dawn Part 1 won for Movie of the Year over Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2? I like Twilight and all, but Harry Potter holds a special place in my heart.**

-**Ryanne**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**

**I will not be able to update until August due to the fact that I'm going to my dad's house for the summer. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning this, I just can't take my laptop with me and all my files are saved on it. I'll try to upload it as soon as I can.**

**-wolfe luv**


	5. The Letters from No one

**I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. All rights to J.K. Rowling.**

Dudley stared in shock as Gordon clutched his nose where blood was flowing and moaning in pain.

"Did you have to hit so hard?" Gordon complained trying to soothe the throbbing, but resulting in the flow to quicken.

"Yes, I did. And I did it because I don't like it when guys hit on me when I'm dating someone," Ginny snapped with her arms folded in front of her.

"Can you at least do something to stem the blood flow? My mum's going to kill me if blood gets on the carpet," Dudley said.

"Don't worry, Dud, if your mum doesn't kill you, Ginny probably will," Lee winked.

"Ginny, I think you better fix it. I'm going to get sick if I have to see that mess on his face," Neville said disgusted.

Gordon had blood on his shirt from where it was dripping from his chin and a nose that was squashed like a tomato.

"Alright," Ginny sighed. "Come here and I'll put it back to the way it was before I'd knocked you flat on your back."

Gordon groaned when he got up and walked over to Ginny who had her wand out.

"Episkey!" Ginny cried and Gordon's nose straightened in a second. She then pointed her wand at his shirt and murmured, "Terego" and all the blood was siphoned off.

"What did those spells do?" Malcolm asked.

Dudley listened carefully. His parents might not care about the magical world, but he did.

"Well the first spell was supposed to fix your nose and stop the blood. The second did its job of removing the blood," Neville explained.

"Wait, I thought you weren't allowed to do magic in front of us," Piers accused. "That witch McGonagall said something how the muggles were going to find out that magic exists."

"Usually yes, but were on straight orders from Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, to bring these books to you lot so you know why the Dursleys had to leave and why the rest of you really shouldn't get on Harry's bad side," Neville explained.

"And you definitely don't want to get on the bad side of Harry Potter. I've heard that he can get a nasty temper when he gets mad," Lee grinned.

"Now, can I cast the spell so the book can continue?" Ginny asked.

They all nodded and went backed to their seats while Ginny mumbled a spell that caused to rise into the air once again and flip to the correct page.

**"The Letters from No one,"** the book read.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. **

"Harry has some very interesting logic," Neville raising his eyebrows. "Whatever happened to Dennis anyway?"

Dudley shrugged. "He got caught with some alcohol in his room so his parents sent him to a camp to sort out his problem." **(A/N: I have no idea if this is true or not. I just didn't want to bring him in because I don't like it that he has the same name as innocent Dennis Creevey who lost his brother Colin.)**

"At least there will be one less person who will mess their life up," Ginny sighed.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting. **

"I wonder how they would take to a game where Ginny hunted them down and jinx them into oblivion," Lee muttered to Neville.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. **

**Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.**

Lee snorted. "Dursley wishes."

**Dudley thought this was very funny. **

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?" **

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." **

"And yet he never came with me, Fred, and George when we were pulling pranks." Lee shook his head in disappointment.

"Could you imagine the mayhem that would cause?" Neville arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, and I see a world where nothing is normal."

"Already there," Ginny muttered.

**Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said. **

"But where's that Gryffindor courage?" Lee joked.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before.**

"I wouldn't either," Lee snorted.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she had it for several years. That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. **

"That is ghastly. I'm so glad we only have to wear white button shirts, black pants, sweaters, ties, and black robes," Ginny said.

"You can't forget about the pointed hat!" Lee cheered.

**They also carried knobby sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life. **

"Exactly how is that good training?" Ginny asked Dudley and Piers who shrugged.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. **

"Don't worry Harry, we'll do it for you," Lee said as he gasped for breath.

"Mate, I think I may already have," Neville guffawed.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water. **

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question. **

**"Your new school uniform," she said. **

**Harry looked in the bowl again. **

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet." **

"I'm surprised Harry hasn't gotten more detention from Snape with that kind of cheek," Lee chuckled.

"Oh, he has. You should hear what he said to Snape in our first Defense against the Dark Arts class in our sixth year. 'Course, he wasn't trying to be a smart aleck, which makes it that much more hilarious."

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished." **

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. **

"That's a first," Lee laughed.

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably. **

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table. **

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. **

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. **

"I feel a disturbance in the force," Lee said spiritually.

**"Make Harry get it." **

**"Get the mail, Harry." **

"All is right again," Lee sighed making the others laugh.

**"Make Dudley get it." **

"This is what we call a tennis match conversation. It usually happens between me and my siblings," Ginny said.

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley." **

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick **

"Well, if Harry can dodge a Bludger, then I'm pretty sure he can dodge a piece of wood," Neville snorted.

"A what?" Piers asked.

"A small black ball that flies around trying to knock players off brooms and speeds so fast it's a blur," Ginny said.

Dudley wondered why the girl was explaining other than Lee or Neville, but thought best not to bring it up. If only Gordon had thought to take the advice.

"Why's Ginger talking 'bout sports like she knows how to play the game? I doubt she even knows how to play." Gordon sneered.

The room went quiet as Lee and Neville shook their head, as if saying, 'are you trying to get on her bad side?' Dudley began wondering if his friend had a death sentence.

He could see Ginny's hand flexing, as if trying to restrain the anger of putting Gordon flat on his back again.

"I know you did not just say that," Ginny said dangerously.

"You better start sleeping with one eye open otherwise think of some excuses to why you're bruised black and blue," Neville said.

**and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — a letter for Harry. **

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? **

"Friends, admirers, and people thinking he's completely bonkers," Lee said cheerfully.

**He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake: **

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

Malcolm raised his hand "Question: If the letter was addressed to Harry's cupboard, how come McGonagall didn't do anything about it?"

Ginny sighed. "Hogwarts uses Self-Address Quills, so there was no way of them knowing."

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. **

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. **

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke. **

"Kill me now," Lee begged while he mimed tying a noose around his neck and pulling the end of an imaginary rope.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. **

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…" **

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!" **

"That was none of your business!" Ginny hissed.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon. **

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back. **

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge. **

"Do you think Tonks could've done that?" Lee asked, interested.

"I don't know..." Ginny said thoughtfully.

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped. **

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. **

"Never mind, she should go to W.A.D.A." Lee chuckled.

"Except that there's one little thing she's missing," Ginny giggled.

"What's that?" Lee asked confused.

"She's not a witch, mate," Dudley laughed.

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!" **

"I stand by what I said," Lee said stubbornly.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

**"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine." **

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope. **

**Harry didn't move. **

**"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted. **

"There's the temper, though I didn't think it would've appeared so soon," Ginny laughed.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley. **

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor. **

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?" **

**"Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly. **

"Don't flatter yourself," Lee muttered.

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —" **

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. **

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…" **

**"But —" **

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?" **

The room went deathly quiet.

"Stamp out?" Ginny said in a deadly whisper. She turned her full glare on the muggles ho flinched back. She had to remind herself that it wasn't their fault. It was that walking tub of lard, Vernon Dursley's.

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard. **

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?" **

**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it." **

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it." **

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. **

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

**"Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom. **

"About damn time," Lee muttered.

**"Why?" said Harry. **

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now." **

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), **

"I can see why he wouldn't want to sleep in that room. It's been tainted by the Mad Cow," Lee cringed in horror.

**one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. **

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; **

''Still not as bad as Harry's," Neville joked trying to lighten Ginny's mood. She was still furious, but he thought he saw her mouth twitch in a smile.

**there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. **

"Poor rifle. What did it ever do to you?" Lee said in mock accusation to Dudley who looked up in surprise.

**Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched. From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there… I need that room… make him get out…" **

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it. **

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. **

"If any of my brothers had done that they wouldn't have been able to sit for a month," Ginny said in astonishment.

"Thank you, Ginny. I could've gone the rest of my life without knowing that Fred and George couldn't sit because their bums were sore," Lee said, wincing dramatically..

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly. When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it.**

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'" **

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand. **

"Damn," Ginny muttered.

Gordon looked in surprise. "Who would've thought that Ginger cussed so much? I guess she not as innocent as she looks."

"Please," Ginny snorted. "I've kicked ass more times than you've stuffed your face."

Lee, Neville, Piers, Dudley, and Malcolm all laughed while Gordon's face turned red.

**"Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go." **

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan. **

"Oh no," Neville muttered and Dudley looked at him questioningly. What was so wrong with his cousin's plans?

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights. He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door — **

**"AAAAARRRGH!" **

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something alive! Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

"So that's what happened. I had wondered why he hollered," Dudley mused.

"Why didn't you just ask in the morning?" Ginny quirked an eyebrow.

"I was still pouting," Dudley chuckled nervously.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink. **

**"I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot. **

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up." **

"I still think that Harry's logic is better." Lee grinned.

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon." **

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him. **

"Thank God for that," Ginny said scorchingly.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters,**

"Now that was uncalled for," Neville said crossing his arms.

**he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises. **

"No offense, Dud, but I think your dad needs to pay a visit to the Happy House," Malcolm snorted.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. **

**While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. **

"Oh come on!" Ginny groaned.

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement. **

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. **

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers,**

"Yeah, I think he's a bit mad," Dudley chuckled.

**"no damn letters today —" **

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one — **

**"Out! OUT!" **

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. **

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. **

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time.**

**"I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" **

"So, how well did Harry do with the no arguments rule?" Ginny asked wryly.

"He didn't argue, but he was slamming a lot of things shut in his room," Dudley answered.

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. **

"He's more than a bit mad," Piers laughed.

"Amen to that," Lee agreed.

**Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag. **

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. **

**"Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this. **

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer. **

"That doesn't even come close to Harry's bad days," Ginny said bitingly. Just when she started to get along better with Dudley, the boy does something to mess it up.

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. **

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." **

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address: **

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared. **

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room. **

**"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage. **

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.**

"At least you noticed that your dad finally cracked," Someone mumbled.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled. **

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television." **

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. **

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

"Mum definitely changed that," Ginny laughed.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day. **

"I beg to differ; you are eleven the other 364 days of the year." Lee said pompously.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "What about leap year?"

That shut him up.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!" **

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain; there was no television in there. **

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" **

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them. **

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" **

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. **

"I'm surprised that we didn't get sick," Dudley said thoughtfully.

"Well, if your family were wizards, then you could've taken some Pepper-Up potion and been toasty warm in two seconds flat," Lee pointed out.

This made Dudley wonder. Why did his mum and dad hate magic so much?

**After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. **

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up. **

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully. **

"Prat," Ginny muttered.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all. **

"I've been wondering when his pessimism would show up again. Though this time he has a reason to be," Lee said.

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket. **

Ginny's hand twitched and she had to remind herself that it probably wouldn't be good if she gave a muggle another bloody nose.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. **

**Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now. **

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. **

"Pessimistic!" Lee coughed.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. **

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea? **

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him**

"If only he would've came with us when we pulled pranks. Think of all the peaceful days that could have been ruined!" Lee said in faux tragedy.

— **three… two… one… **

**BOOM. **

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in. **

"DUN, DUN, DUN!" Lee shouted and Ginny hit him upside the head.

"You know you deserved that," she said with a pointed look and Lee sighed in exasperation.

Dudley chuckled. Why can't my friends and I just joke around like that? Anything would be better than what they did now.

Gordon groaned in his head. This book hadn't given him anything he could use against Potter to tease him or to steal his girlfriend, Ginger. He liked it when they resisted him. But they always came to him in the end.

"So let's move on to the next chapter shall we?" Neville said and muttered the charm again.

The book flipped to the next page and read out, **"The Keeper of Keys."**

**Ok, so I'm back and sorry it took so long for the update. Though I was able to keep up with the goings on on Fanfiction by my iPod touch, so, that's good.**

**Tell me what you think!**

**-Ryanne**


	6. Chapter 6

I am transferring this story to wolfgirl263, but I will be somewhat involved in the making of the chapters. Sorry for the lack of chapters,it's of you will probably be hunting after me. *ducks behind the couch and locks the door*

-Wolfe luv


End file.
